Advice Please -

Infamous Ent. · 03-24-2006

Hello to all. I know this question is extremely round about with several possibilities pending on person, directions, goals, usage, etc, and probably asked WAY too much (lol).... But I did a search first and I also did read over "metarra's" post which was similar, but mine is stemmed from a slightly different direction,,,

So, I have a Graphic Design, Photography, Film/DV Movie/and soon 3D CGG business. We are JUST starting to get into 3D building and animation for several things and reasons. (Commercials, movies, special effects, ect...) We haven't got our 3D program yet.

I am decently experienced in every CURRENT aspect of my business, but we are ALL clueless to the 3D world.

Here is where my question is more specific, and asks a slightly different question --
I want to purchase THE BEST program with ALL plug ins and modules possible for it so we can make some REAL s#it.

Prices, learning curves, and other things are NOT a issue at all - we simply want the most POWERFUL, BEST program out there for creating stuff like "Dinosaur", etc.. We will take the time and classes to learn, and don't care about price, we just want to be learning on THE BEST.

What is recommened or considered THE BEST 3D animation/modeling/building/all around program ?? You know know a little about me and my experience, so what is the recommendation for me and my exact situation ? Eventually we want to make movies like "Finding Nemo", that type of stuff. That type of power.

Money is of NO CONCERN. I want the best. Like what was "Monsters Inc."" created on ? Or "Toy Stories", or Polar Express" ? Etc.. ?? I want that type of power.

We were studying a few, and it seems to be in question between Maya 7.0 Unlimited, Maxon Cinema 4D R9.5 with EVRYTHING bundle and all modules, or a couple others. For some reason that Cinema 4D Studio Bundle + a few other plugs, modules, and resource libraries really strike us as a GREAT program. Its interface looks comfortable, it seems to have ALL kinds of power, and it looks simply great and easy to learn. Would we be going wrong if we were to go the Cinema 4D route ?

I notice some complaints about both, and some praises about both, but I also notice most write ups are on the older version of Cinema 4D. Their new version (9.5) maybe puts them ahead of Maya 7.0 ??

PLEASE can someone steer us in the right direction...

Thanks to all in advance -

zapphnath · 03-24-2006

I believe that Maya was used in both the Shrek and Star Wars franchises. (I'm sure I read that somewhere).
Should you decide to go with Maya, here's a good place to go to to learn...
http://www.simplymaya.com/
Good luck with that.

Infamous Ent. · 03-24-2006

Thanks zapphnath, so I guess you are suggesting "Maya 7.0 Unlimited" then ? And therefore you are saying it is a better choice to get than Cinema 4D R9.5 (with ALL modules, plug ins, and resource libraries) then ?
Right ?

Wow, I didn't know it was Maya used for the Star Wars flicks !! Thats definitely big.

Shrek was a awesome movie, great storyline (as usual with them movies), but I don't look at it as the best looking 3D CGG movie for some reason. I don't know why. I mean it looked cool, just not as realistic as "Dinosaur".
But maybe Maya was used for "Dinosaur" too though.

Anyway, thanks so much for the reply, and the link is just frickin' GREAT !!
IF I do choose to roll with Maya, I will definitely use it. So thanks for that as well.

Ok, so we got 1 vote for me to get Maya.

Please more input would be great here guys, and PLEASE read my entire first post so you can know where I am coming from.

Thanks -

zapphnath · 03-25-2006

In all honesty, I can't really make a suggestion, as I don't use either application. I had Maya 6 last year, but the tedious nature of the process caused me to lose interest long before learning anything useful. (My current computer configuration won't allow me to make any further attempts - too slow).
I do, however, have a few books on Maya and some incredible results can certainly be achieved with enough effort.

As a further suggestion, you might think about signing up with PixelCorp. For the price of a low-end, Wal-Mart computer system, you can have access to several thousands of dollars worth of the latest software while training to use it. http://www.pixelcorps.com/

Infamous Ent. · 03-25-2006

Man, you are just full of great ideas and great links. I never heard of these PixelCorp guys. I/we are definitely looking into that for sure.

Thanks Mr. Zap dude.

*unleash* · 03-25-2006

and if you wan't maya, i have it to, you must have lots of money or a good friend with the programm, another handy site for maya is www.gameskool.nl, it's in dutch(i'm dutch) so aybe you can't read it.